


all you need to fall in love

by cathrheas



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hugs, Pre-Canon, Touch-Starved, briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26491246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathrheas/pseuds/cathrheas
Summary: “It’s really dumb,” Cassandra warned, adjusting her hair again. Was she really so concerned about her appearance? “I’m...I’m just really happy that you helped me out yesterday, and...would it be too much to ask for a hug, maybe?”(Cassandra reminds Rhea what a warm embrace feels like.)
Relationships: Catherine/Rhea (Fire Emblem)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	all you need to fall in love

**Author's Note:**

> "but it's a birthday fic for catherine why's it a rhea pov" 
> 
> i wrote this on a whim bc my actual catherine bday fic couldnt get finished in time gimme a break
> 
> anyway!! happy (sorta late) birthday my lovely knight!! you stole my heart day 1 with your stupid lovesick antics. you're hella underrated but by god im working hard to make everyone realize what a god-tier girl u are

Rhea had decided to keep an eye on Cassandra the moment she stepped foot in the monastery. She was the kind of girl that demanded attention. It made Rhea wonder if her parents were perhaps neglectful—she had plenty of siblings, Rhea had learned—or if she simply didn’t feel seen. Either way, Cassandra was loud, a showoff, and Rhea knew that people like that tended to get into trouble. So, when Rhea first saw Cassandra chasing other students around the courtyard with a wooden sword, she decided to keep an eye out.

It came in handy.

Cassandra was just as reckless as she seemed at first glance, careless with her own life every time she surged into battle. When Seteth told Rhea that Cassandra had been hurt on a mission, Rhea felt no surprise, but she still felt her heart shrivel inside of her chest, despite never having spoken to the girl. Seeing her stretched out in pain, first in the middle of dark woods and then in the infirmary, did something to Rhea that she didn’t care to admit. 

Rhea decided to forget it. She had saved Cassandra then, only because she felt some sort of duty after watching over her for so long, but decided to wipe her hands clean of the girl after it was all said and done.

Unfortunately, Cassandra wouldn’t let her do that.

She had said her thanks, although with a weak voice, while she was in the infirmary, and Rhea had assumed that would be the end of it. Rhea wasn’t...upset when Cassandra came into her office the next day, but she was certainly surprised. More than that, she immediately got the sinking feeling that she was already in too deep—she didn’t want to get close to anyone, let alone a student, let alone someone so reckless.

Cassandra came with a rose, plucked from the greenhouse. Rhea hadn’t been watching her every move, but she certainly hadn’t seen Cassandra gardening. “What a lovely flower you have there,” Rhea said, in greeting.

Cassandra seemed to clam up upon being addressed, but she might have still been feeling ill. After the events of the day before, Rhea was surprised she was even walking. “Thanks. My friend gave it to me as a get-well gift, but...I thought I should give it to you, since you’re the reason why I’m here.”

The heat in Rhea’s cheeks told her she couldn’t let things go any further. She’d take the rose, she decided, then end the conversation as quickly as it had begun. “Thank you, Cassandra,” Rhea said, and Cassandra thrust it forward, perhaps a little too aggressively. Rhea took it with a gentler hand, and noticed that it had been plucked of all thorns. A brief glance at Cassandra’s hands made Rhea notice red dots where she’d been pricked. 

“Yeah, no problem! I hope you like it. Well, you said it was lovely, so, I guess you do. But I don’t want to assume,” she said, pulling her hair out of its ponytail and tying it up again. She was still in constant motion, despite her injury; Rhea knew her to be a bit jittery. She hadn’t spoken to Cassandra except for the day before, though, and she was surprised to see that Cassandra had a rather relaxed way of speaking, despite her rambling.

Rhea smiled primly, hugging the rose to her chest. “It is beautiful. I will take good care of it, I promise. Are you feeling better?”

“Like a million gold coins! I could jump back into it any second now,” Cassandra said, bouncing on her toes for emphasis. “Y-yesterday was a fluke, y’know...just a little slip-up. I know there’s a lot of students here, so you probably don’t pay much attention, but you can ask the professor! I’m at the top of my class, no doubt.”

Rhea didn’t want to admit that she’d been watching all along, of course... “I might do just that. The progress of my students is very important to me.” The conversation was going on a bit too long, Rhea thought, because she was looking at Cassandra too much—her face, perhaps a bit discolored from lack of rest, and her eyes, which were still a bright, twinkling blue despite the odds. “Thank you for coming to see me, Cassandra. Unfortunately, I must—”

“Wait! Um...I know you’re busy,” Cassandra said, trying to get in one last word. Rhea wanted to interrupt her, but she was quick to the punch. “But, I-I just wanted to ask...ah...” Rhea waited, impatient and anxious. Cassandra floundered a bit before sighing. “Sorry. This was a bad idea. Can you just forget I said anything at all?”

Despite her nerves, Rhea couldn’t let a student go ignored. Especially not Cassandra, who couldn’t help but be earnest. “Please, speak your mind.”

“It’s really dumb,” Cassandra warned, adjusting her hair again. Was she really so concerned about her appearance? “I’m...I’m just really happy that you helped me out yesterday, and...would it be too much to ask for a hug, maybe?”

Rhea was taken aback mostly by her gall. To think someone would be bold enough to ask the archbishop of the Church of Seiros for...a hug...it was unbelievable. Once the shock had resided, Rhea was left with nothing but conflict in her mind. She was surprised to realize that her first thought was  _ yes, of course, hug me if you’d like, _ only for something in her to recoil. It was an innocent request, and her hypothetical agreement would have been equally as innocent, but Rhea...wasn’t used to being touched. She’d forgotten what it felt like, between watching her loved ones die and being left all alone.

Did she even remember  _ how _ to hug someone?

No, that was ridiculous. She couldn’t forget how to hug. Among Cassandra’s generation, it was just a friendly gesture, if not a bit sentimental. Cassandra had been through something scarring, and Rhea had helped her through it, and she wanted a hug. That was it, that was all.

“It would be no trouble at all,” Rhea said, that same tight smile on her face. She moved to set the rose down, but Cassandra approached her before she could. Rhea was glad there were no thorns left on it; the stem brushed against Cassandra’s cheek as she leaned in, wrapping her arms around Rhea’s waist and resting her forehead on her chest.

Rhea struggled to hold onto the rose as Cassandra held her. Perhaps she  _ had _ forgotten how to hug someone; for a few moments, she stood there, lost, before realizing what she was supposed to do. She brought her arms up and held Cassandra around her shoulders, still gripping the rose between her fingers. Without realizing it, Rhea had begun to rock them back and forth, a slow sway.

Rhea couldn’t help but look down at her, at the girl who was always feisty but suddenly vulnerable, with her eyes shut against the archbishop’s chest in a hug that she had sorely needed. Rhea tried to calm herself, afraid that Cassandra would somehow hear her heart beating too fast.

Cassandra was the one to pull back, looking rather shy. It was a quick turnaround from the tranquil expression she wore while in Rhea’s arms, and it made Rhea self-conscious. “Thank you...sorry for asking that of you, Lady Rhea.”

“It is quite alright,” Rhea said, even though it wasn’t, it really, really wasn’t, because—why did she feel so cold? Was it always so cold, without Cassandra being held against her? “Thank you for the rose, my dear. But, please, return to your room and rest—and make sure you are minding your wounds.”

“Alright! I will. And, Lady Rhea, if you ever need anything, just...just let me know,” Cassandra said, smiling brightly, although she seemed unsure of herself. “I’m a jack of all trades. If you need someone to...to take notes during a meeting, or—or get you snacks, I can do any of that! Just say the word!”

Rhea laughed a bit despite her attempts at stoicism. Of course, Cassandra would come up with such menial tasks to offer herself up for. Rhea wouldn’t ask her for anything, but if she did, she’d certainly be willing to ask Cassandra to do something...more useful, if only because she knew that she was capable. “For now, focus on getting well,” Rhea said.

Cassandra was satisfied with the answer, however vague. “Okay. I’ll head back to my room right now, then! Thanks again, Lady Rhea!”

Rhea only exhaled when Cassandra left, moving far too fast for someone who had just been injured. She had seemed overjoyed, just because of a simple embrace. It was endearing, to see her light up at something so simple. Rhea decided to leave it at that: she’d done Cassandra a favor when she was feeling down, and she had succeeded in cheering her up. That was all it was.

At last, Rhea set the rose down on her desk, then sat down in her chair, looking at the rose as if it was staring back at her. She looked at the petals, and thought of Cassandra’s skin, soft and warm despite her undoubtedly feeling unwell. And her hair, soft and silky—did she care more about her own beauty than her brash personality implied...?

As Rhea recounted the hug, a long few seconds in time, she found herself wondering if it had always felt like that, if she’d always felt the urge to hold whoever was in her arms and never let them go. She wondered if she was simply on edge from the events of the day before, and that was why Cassandra made her heart race. What other reason could there have been?

Rhea tightened her face, not wanting to let another smile form from the thought of that girl. She moved the rose out of her line of sight, and turned her attention to something else—anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to check out [my Twitter](https://twitter.com/cathrheas)!


End file.
